In brief: U.S. missile strike kills 20 in Pakistan

MIR ALI, Pakistan – At least one suspected U.S. drone fired on a house in Pakistan’s volatile tribal region Sunday, killing 20 people in the 11th such attack since militants in the area orchestrated a deadly suicide bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Four missiles slammed into the house in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, the same region where a drone strike Thursday targeted a meeting of militant commanders in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

The militant leader helped organize the Dec. 30 attack against a remote CIA base in Afghanistan.

The house targeted in Sunday’s attack was being used by Usman Jan, the head of the al-Qaida-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, intelligence officials said. Five Uzbeks were killed in the strike, but it was unclear if Jan was among them.

Chavez approves talks with U.S.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela is seeking to improve diplomatic relations with the United States despite long-standing tensions with Washington, President Hugo Chavez said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Chavez said he has given Deputy Foreign Minister Francisco Arias Cardenas permission to seek a meeting with U.S. officials in Washington to discuss forging better bilateral relations.

“Arias Cardenas asked for authorization to meet with an emissary from the U.S. government, and I gave it to him,” said Chavez, speaking during a program broadcast on the local Televen television channel. “We want to talk, so there’s a possibility of easing tensions.”

Chavez didn’t explain what prompted his decision to try to improve relations just weeks after he accused the U.S. of planning to invade his country.

There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. State Department or the White House.

Billionaire wins Chilean presidency

SANTIAGO, Chile – Billionaire Sebastian Pinera won Chile’s presidency Sunday in the country’s first democratic election of a right-wing ruler in 52 years, and he vowed to make Chile “the best country in the world.”

Pinera’s triumph over former President Eduardo Frei ended more than two decades of rule by the center-left coalition that followed Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship, and marked a tilt to the right on a continent dominated by leftist governments.

In a victory speech that invoked the calls to service of U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, Pinera vowed to hire the “best, most prepared, most honest and most dedicated” people for his government and called on a new generation of Chileans to meet his challenge.

Extreme weather kills four in China

BEIJING – Rescue workers were evacuating thousands of rural residents from parts of northwestern China after extreme cold and blizzard conditions killed four people and left half a million snowed under, meteorologists said today.

Some 100,000 homes were either flattened or damaged by the storms in Xinjiang, and more than 15,000 head of livestock were killed by the cold front that set in Sunday night.

Temperatures in parts of Xinjiang are set to plunge to 45 degrees below zero by midweek, according to a Xinjiang forecaster.